Bajrang Dal disrupts namaz at Gurugram ground

The Muslims alleged that the protesters had been sloganeering at the spot every Friday for the last two months.

Gurugram: Members of Hindutva outfit Bajrang Dal on Friday protested against a group of Muslims offering namaz on government land in Sector 69 near Darbaripur village, disrupted prayers and got into a verbal spat with the group regarding the legality of worship on the site. However, a group of police officers reached the spot and stopped the situation from escalating.

Gurugram, Dec 23 (ANI): Bajarang Dal and Hindu Parishad members arrive to protest against the devotees offering namaz, in Gurugram on Friday. (ANI photo) (Yogendra Kumar)

While around 20 members of Bajrang Dal threatened to continue their protest if the administration did not put a stop to “unauthorised” prayers in public spaces, the Muslims alleged that the protesters had been sloganeering at the spot every Friday for the last two months.

Arif Khan, an executive working with a food chain, said that the protesters threatened to kill them for offering namaz there. “Fortunately, police reached the spot and handled the situation,” he said.

The protesters, however, said that the nearly 300 Muslims offering namaz at the spot were not local residents and did not have permission to offer prayers at roadsides, parks, and vacant government land in the city. To be sure, Sector 69 is not on the list of designated prayer sites released by the district administration in August.

He said they spoke to some of the Muslims at the site, who confirmed they belonged to neighbouring areas. The imam leading the prayer himself was from Palwal, Lal said.

Amit Hindu, one of the protesters, said that nearly 300 Muslims had been visiting the site to offer namaz over the past couple of months. “Last Friday, we gave them an ultimatum that they cannot offer prayers at the unauthorised spot, but they still returned this week, so we did not let them offer namaz,” he said.

On November 11, an association of imams in Gurugram had also urged the district administration to stop some groups from offering namaz at undesignated public spaces, and said this could lead to communal disharmony. Mufti Abdul Haseeb Qasmi, president of Gurugram Imam Sangathan, said: “Muslim groups will organise a meeting with Hindu organisations in this matter on Wednesday.”

In 2018, the administration designated 37 sites for Muslims to perform Friday prayers. However, in November last year, the number of sites was reduced to 20 after members of right-wing groups as well as locals protested and disrupted prayers and, in August, they were reduced to just six. Muslims, however, have maintained that they are forced to use public spaces since there are not enough mosques in the city. Gurugram district has around 500,000 Muslims, of whom around 150,000 offer namaz on Fridays, said officials. aware of the matter